


When the Light Reaches (Long After Us)

by Mytay



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: And Possibly Heartbreaking, Angst, Established Relationship, M/M, Ponderings About the Nature of the Universe, Probably Cheesy, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-03
Updated: 2017-03-03
Packaged: 2018-09-28 00:11:24
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,965
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10058420
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mytay/pseuds/Mytay
Summary: There’s beauty in the infinite rarity of the universe. Lance constantly marvels at how each unique star, planet, person comes to be and then creates paths intersecting with others.Like how he and Keith fell into each other’s orbits — what terrible, wonderful things drew them in — and how they became a pair of ridiculously in love rivals.If Lance tried to calculate the odds on that happening, it would probably be in numbers too high to count — but he thinks about it, every now and again. He shares it with Keith, who teases him, but who also stares at him with awe-filled eyes, so Lance knows Keith is right there with him, thanking his rare and lucky stars.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * Translation into Čeština available: [Když sem dosáhne světlo (dávno po nás dvou)](https://archiveofourown.org/works/12426450) by [Enikawa_Moriko](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Enikawa_Moriko/pseuds/Enikawa_Moriko)



> Title and story inspired by [_Saturn,_ by Sleeping at Last](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dzNvk80XY9s). I am so grateful to **Oneofthecacti** for sharing that song with me.
> 
>  **Warning Before You Read:** Please heed the _Major Character Death_ tag. If you need to know who and under what circumstances for the sake of your own mental health, then please read the endnotes — click the _more notes_ link a few lines below.
> 
> If this isn’t something you can read, then thank you for stopping by regardless. For anybody who decides to give it a shot — many thanks, as this was incredibly hard yet wonderful to write.
> 
>  _Edit Oct. 9, 2017:_ I am absent-minded as hell and I forgot to add the freaking gorgeous art that people have created for this; firstly, the wonderful **catch-the-star** on Tumblr made [this beautiful image of a happy, rain-soaked Lance](http://catch-the-star.tumblr.com/post/158630941347), and secondly, the fantastic **EnikawaMoriko** made [this gorgeous picture of the very first scene](http://enikawamoriko.tumblr.com/post/165899745279/doesnt-it-just-blow-your-mind-the-chances-that). Thank you so, so much to both of you!

******

 

The sun breaks over the horizon, spilling red and gold across the uneven landscape of dew-heavy trees and silver rivers.

 

Lance breathes a small cloud into the dawn mist, his blue eyes far richer than any other colour in the wondrous living painting before them. Keith sees one of the most beautiful sights in the universe — a tall, brown skinned boy, arms outstretched to greet a strange day on a strange world, wide open to the light of a star that he’d never seen until this morning.

 

“It was worth the climb,” Lance says, quiet in the rustling wind. “I … wow, I … Keith, look at this.”

 

“I am.” Keith exhales slowly. “It’s … I don’t have words.”

 

“Doesn’t it just blow your mind — the chances that we would come to stand on this _exact_ spot?” Lance drags a foot across the mossy stone beneath them. “This cliff, and the however many thousands of years it took to form on this planet, in this galaxy — and us, born a few short years ago, hundreds of _millions_ of miles away, and somehow time and space intersected in a few, one-in-a-quintillion chances, and … here.”

 

A whistle of air around them, a small burst of lush green and blue leaves swirling about their legs and off over the edge. Keith inhales a minty freshness, still slightly damp, and closes his eyes for a moment. When he opens them again, Lance stands in front of him, glowing in the golden light.

 

“I think one of the coolest things I learned was how a star is born, you know?” Lance says out of nowhere, excitement tingeing words as whimsical as the playful breeze that ruffles his hair. He turns to stare at the rising sun, and Keith steps in closer, pressing their shoulders together.

 

“I remember my science classes, too.” He puts his weight against Lance, leaning in further. “But tell me your version.”

 

Lance takes a deep breath. “In the infinite blackness, swirling gases collide and form giant nebulas — and some clouds break off, collapse inwards and spin and eventually there’s a star in there. And when it’s strong enough, it blows away the rest of the clouds, and the light finally shines through — only to reach us back home long after it’s gone. It was mind-blowing to me, and somehow it still is, even after everything we’ve seen …”

 

Lance’s rambles are not often that poetic or scientific — or both, in this case — but Keith has been listening to them avidly for a couple of years, even when he’s complained and teased the other boy about his random trains of thought.

 

Keith breaks into a soft smile now, asking, “How short of oxygen are you? Is this altitude a little too much for your brain?”

 

He gets a laugh and a light punch to the shoulder — but then there’s warm, brown arms tossed around Keith’s neck, loosely embracing him. “I’m just saying that light goes on for a long, long time, even after something’s not there to shine anymore. It’s cool, man. It’s beautiful, even. Appreciate the moment. When I get my oxygen levels back to normal, it’s a return to the cheesy pick-up lines and thinly veiled innuendos, my dear Red Hot Paladin.”

 

Keith rolls his eyes fondly, wrapping both his arms around Lance, tangling them up as much as he can while they stand on this edge, wind billowing their shirts and tousling their hair.

 

He stares at the unfamiliar sun climbing the sky, that endless stretch of sapphire and emerald woods, and the sparkling waters. The coldness of the night still clings, but Lance is a brave, rare and beautiful star in arms, and that’s all the heat he needs — he wants to stay up here a little longer.

 

“Thank you for hiking with me,” Lance says just above his ear, his voice a low rumble. “I needed to see … I need to see, sometimes, the things we’re fighting to save.”

 

“Yeah. I know.” Keith’s arms tighten. What he’s fighting to save is right here — and out there, and all around, but mostly, in his embrace right now, because everything else can go on to grow and wither away, but this boy should be infinite — it’s the least the universe can do for one of its defenders.

 

******

 

Hunk is laughing too hard to speak, to tell Keith what’s so damn funny, but when he points, and Keith turns to witness Lance, dressed head-to-toe in the most lurid shade of magenta imaginable, then it’s quite clear what the joke is.

 

Keith is struggling to keep a straight face as he walks across the banquet hall — Hunk, Pidge, and Coran are not even remotely attempting to remain stoic, their mirth echoing.

 

The Juyrinus are cooing over Lance, the furry aliens about chest height to him, and complimenting his appearance in their most honoured cultural dress — Lance seems to be enjoying the toga-like contraption, even with the painfully searing colour.

 

“Hello there, beautiful!” Lance calls when he catches sight of Keith, his white teeth gleaming as he shoots him a wide grin.

 

“Back at you,” Keith says drily, completely poker-faced.

 

As he approaches, he sees that Lance has two small earrings in each ear — a small, light blue stud, and then a dangling, raindrop-shaped piece of silver. They match the embroidery woven through the fabric, the faint patterns of runes. Lance also has a few thick bangles that ring like bells as he twirls, showing off to Keith with dramatic flair — the long skirt flies up and there’s a set of silver sandals, straps criss-crossing up to Lance’s knees.

 

Lance comes to a stop with his hands on his hips. “Look, I know, you wanted to be the Chosen Consort to the Celestial Life Bringer, but you just gotta accept that I have far more grace and divinity.”

 

“I feel like you’re edging into blasphemous territory here, and Allura will kill you if you blow this,” Keith warns lightly, his smile escaping at last.

 

“Dude. Are you jealous that I’m betrothed to their sky god?” Lance gasps, a hand on his chest. “Keith, you know that you’re the only Paladin for me! You’ve just gotta make room for, um, Iker — Ikau —”

 

“ _Ickeraunus_!” comes the giddy shout of the high priest, who is standing in the entrance to hall. Keith jumps, whipping around to see the elderly alien slam his staff onto the floor. “And we must all proceed outside — it is time for the Great Unleashing and Union!”

 

Hunk has finally stopped laughing, though he breaks out into a few new giggles when he gets in close to Lance, wrapping an arm around his shoulders. “Buddy, you have never been prettier. And we will be taking many pictures to document this. Like, expect a photo album on your birthday.”

 

Lance raises his eyebrows haughtily. “We all know that turquoise is more my colour — royal blue when that isn’t available — but if you think I’m embarrassed by this, um, extremely _impressive_ fuchsia —”

 

“It’s more magenta to me,” Keith tosses in.

 

“A striking _cerise_ maybe?” Pidge contributes helpfully, while taking aforementioned pictures.

 

“— then you are so wrong because I look fabulous in practically anything thanks to my stunning complexion.”

 

“He’s not entirely mistaken,” Allura concedes, her smile wide and delighted. “My compliments to your designer, Lance.”

 

“ _Thank you,_ princess,” Lance says, sounding triumphant.

 

“You’re certainly a striking figure,” Shiro adds, his own grin cheerful and filled with humour. “Definitely ask if you can keep the clothes once we’re done.”

 

“I had to wear a similar outfit when I graduated from the Engineering Academy, and I was quite dashing in it as well!” Coran states exuberantly, patting Lance’s back. “Though, I must admit, the colour scheme wasn’t quite so … awe-inspiring?”

 

“And now, the Great Unleashing!” the high priest cries. “Come forth most honoured Consort! Bear witness to our blessings!”

 

“Yeah, so hopefully this is as painless as they promised.” Lance presses a quick kiss to the side of Keith’s head as he passes by. “Your blessing on my special day?”

 

“Blessing. Don’t trip over that hem,” Keith says, and he snorts when Lance sticks his tongue out at him.

 

Truthfully, none of them have any idea what the ceremony will entail, but once they stand out on the intricately carved stone veranda, the pillars covered with reliefs of swirling waves and rolling thunder clouds … Keith suddenly has some vague notion of what might be happening — particularly since the sunny afternoon has been overtaken by dark indigo clouds.

 

The first rumble seemingly shakes the earth beneath their feet — and when the high priest raises his staff high to say, “ _It begins_ ,” the sky overflows with cool, fresh _rain._

Keith immediately turns towards Lance, whose entire countenance screams _elation._ The blue of his eyes nearly casts light as he takes in the torrential downpour. And before anyone can speak, including the Juyrinu high priest, Lance is tearing down the stone steps, making a joyful noise unto the world as he’s instantly drenched.

 

He tilts his head back and parts his lips, his eyes falling shut in ecstasy.

 

“The Consort is …” The high priest seems to be at a loss for words, and Allura tenses, looking as though she’s preparing herself for a diplomatic battle, but then the priest is yelling to the assembled Juyrinus, “ _He is enamoured of our Great Ickeraunus! We have been blessed and will have many bountiful seasons!_ _Commence the Ode to Our Celestial Life Bringer!_ ”

 

A sweet hum swells up, a hymn that flows along with the rhythm of the rain, that rejoices in the flash of lightning and complements the thunder. There’s laughter between words when Lance starts spinning and running his hands through his soaked hair. The magenta toga darkens and sticks to him, but he’s unhindered by it as he leaps into a puddle, splashing more water onto himself.

 

And Keith is tripping down the stairs after him to an ethereal chorus and the steady thrum of the deluge.

 

Lance swings around, as if he had been anticipating exactly this — and he’s there, sweeping Keith into an impromptu dance that is completely wild and not at all matching the singing reverberating around them. Hunk, Allura, Shiro, and Pidge are sprinting to join them — Coran takes an elegant leap off the railing of the veranda, landing squarely in a newly formed pool and kicking up a wave of water.

 

“ _We take our joy to the Celestial Life Bringer — partake of his gift!”_

 

The Juyrinus cheerfully swarm the Paladins — the laughter is in abundance now, and the singing is more spontaneous. Lance is belting out a few Spanish words in something of a melody. He pulls in Keith, who would not ever dance in public, not for any amount of riches, except for the wealth of happiness that is Lance, their found-family, and the wonderful beings who can now enjoy their ceremonies and thunderstorms without threat of invasion.

 

And when Lance dips him, the water is cold and clean. Keith smiles up into it even as his eyes close to avoid being blinded — but he doesn’t have to worry about that for long, since Lance bends in to kiss the rain off his lips.

 

******

 

The huge, muscular Uruquinth insurgents stand their ground as the Paladins of Voltron fight them — it’s a meadow of tall grass on which they battle, within the shadows of sharply peaked mountains.

 

Lance is at a distance, firing upon their enemies — a legion of troops determined to allow the Galra Empire entry into their system. These Uruquinth are not the majority, but they are a strong and capable force that needs to be dealt with, otherwise several planets’ worth of people might pay for their delusions of serving a superior power.

 

Keith is in the middle of the fray, noble Uruquinth troops alongside him, stabbing with their blades and axes in aid of their people. He slices his way to victory, Shiro off to the left of his peripheral vision, Hunk somewhere near the backline, and Pidge is darting between soldiers faster than Keith can keep up with her.

 

When a fifth Uruquinth rebel drops before Keith can land his finishing blow, he growls into his comm, “Lance, _stop._ ”

 

“Stop saving your butt? Nah, not gonna happen. I’m rather attached to it, you see.”

 

Keith should not be grinning in the middle of a bloody battle, but he’s grown desensitized to certain levels of violence, particularly against people who are actively trying to kill him.

 

“Your _attachment_ is going to be limited if you don’t cut this crap out,” Keith huffs, whirling in time for his shield to meet a long sword — he sweeps in under his aggressor’s legs, bringing her down without a sniper’s assistance.

 

The lumbering giant who had managed to sneak up behind him? That one Lance takes care of, and Keith watches the soldier fall. A fatal blow would have landed on Keith’s back, if not for Lance shooting the Uruquinth insurgent neatly between the eyes.

 

“Right. Thanks for that.”

 

“You’re welcome, _mi amor._ Now get back to it.”

 

And next Lance takes out a mace-wielding Uruquinth that had been swinging viciously at Hunk.

 

When the battle is over (an appointed clash, with rules of engagement and chivalry that Keith didn’t believe in, but that was somehow real and respected on this world), Lance emerges from his hiding place in a makeshift tower — he had been cloaked by Pidge’s latest techno-marvel. He walks towards Keith with his bayard sniper rifle over one shoulder, a distinct swagger in his stride.

 

The evening sky purples, smooth streaks of navy blue and pitch black emerging as the pale orange sun sinks.

 

There are corpses and injured scattered across the field, but Lance doesn’t seem to care as he encircles Keith’s waist with the hand that isn’t holding his gun. Keith still has sword out, though his shield has been retracted.

 

“You were amazing,” Lance says proudly, only a scant few inches from Keith’s face.

 

Keith gives him a raised eyebrow and a smug smirk. “Yeah? Well, you were irritating the hell out of me, but ... you weren’t too bad yourself.”

 

“Yeah?” Lance echoes, his smile tender. “C’mon, over here.”

 

He strips off his gloves, indicating Keith do the same. He then drags Keith by his hand off the battlefield to a small hill, away from the death and carnage of their fight.

 

They stand there amongst the swaying grass, and Lance tugs Keith to face a long gone sunset. Instead, there’s a pair of gleaming white moons rising, casting an unearthly glimmer across the plains and meadows — the faintest sparkle amongst the grasses, as though the blades are made to catch the moons’ light.

 

It’s silent except for a faint whistling past his ears, and the gentle brushing of the grass around their legs and across the expanse.

 

“This is your reward,” Lance whispers. “I wanna say I made this for you, but I think it’s way cooler that the universe just does this kind of stuff without any of us saying or doing anything to cause it. But let’s pretend it’s just for you, right now.”

 

Keith wipes some blood off his face as best he can, so he can turn to Lance and kiss him without staining him red. A faint click and flash of light, their bayards disappearing, and both their hands are free to tangle into sweat dampened hair, to slide down scuffed and messy armour, pulling each other into one another’s bodies. There can be no space between them, and Keith wants to erase even the faintest, tiniest gap that might exist.

 

“I think the most surprising thing about you,” Keith murmurs into Lance’s skin, right where his jawline meets his ear, “is that you actually _are_ really good at the romance stuff.”

 

Lance snorts. “Excuse you, that should not blow your mind! What’s actually worthy of your amazement is the birthmark I have in the _exact_ shape of the Altean rune for _heavenly destiny._ In other words, I was always meant to marry a god —”

 

“I mean, you’re a _consort,_ does that count?”

 

“— and be the boyfriend to the Red Paladin of Voltron, most courageous and talented knight of the realm.”

 

“You messed up there, actually.” Keith thinks there’s no time like the present, and even with a mass grave being dug somewhere behind them, even with blood splattered on his armour, and Lance’s eyes gone a little dimmer from yet another day spent killing, Keith knows that the happy glint in the blue is forever his — so Keith is going to ensure that his outstanding luck is visible to anyone who glances their way.

 

“What mess up? You’re not a mistake, Keith, we’ve been over this, like, a million times, almost as many times as you’ve made me listen to the ‘Lance, you’re important to the team and to me’ lecture —”

 

“Actually, what I was going to say,” Keith interrupts, taking a small step back and then dropping to one knee, his right hand reaching into a small compartment on his belt. “Was that the word ‘boyfriend’ isn’t quite right.”

 

Lance freezes, his mouth falling open. In the moonbeams, he is a pale grey, but Keith knows every shade of him, in every light conceivable — and he can still see the royal blue of his eyes, bright as ever.

 

“I was going to say that you’re the _fiancé_ to the Red Paladin of Voltron, the stubborn idiot that somehow got lucky enough to figure out that the ridiculous Blue Paladin of Voltron was the single most miraculous thing the universe has ever created.” He hardly takes a breath between words, and he barely looks at Lance as he opens his right hand to reveal what he had been carrying in his belt.

 

One ring is plain — a silver band with an inlaid stripe of crimson. It matches perfectly with the second ring — silver but with dark blue along its middle.

 

He picks one of the rings off his palm, offering the red to Lance, and in turn, the Blue Paladin releases a hysterical little laugh. “Colour coordination at its best and cheesiest. _Holy crap,_ but do I ever love you.”

 

Keith tilts his head in question, but before he can say or ask anything more, Lance is grasping his wrist, pulling him back into his arms, silently crying into his shoulder, squeezing him tighter than Keith’s ever been hugged. When Lance recovers, he’s smiling broadly enough to end the night, and he’s placing his hand in Keith’s, watching breathlessly as the silver band slides onto his left ring finger.

 

Without any prompting, Keith gives him the second band, and Lance is clutching Keith’s left hand with a fine trembling to his limbs, and maybe they’re both shaking when the ring is at last gliding into place.

 

They stand there, staring down at their hands, grinning like fools, but then there’s a shift as a gust of wind picks up, and they’re looking into each other’s eyes, awestruck.

 

Keith is sure they move perfectly in tandem — like they do on the battlefield, in the training room, in their bed — when they press in close once more. There’s a kiss that changes, that ebbs and flows, and spirals out, on and on, exactly what Keith hopes their lives together will be — ever changing, but constant in that it’s always _them._

******

 

Keith comes in closer because what else could he do? Each step tears into him, reaching up into his heart — there are clawed hands griping, they will rip it to shreds and _good_ , that’s what he wants, because he doesn’t have need of it anymore.

 

He approaches the screen, the massive window into the last remnants of the Galra Empire. He had been there, just a few minutes ago, until the gravity well of the constructed black hole had nearly rendered him immobile, but Keith had gotten out.

 

Four out of five Lions had pulled free.

 

The Blue Lion and her Paladin, they stayed. Because unless someone constantly recalibrated the dark matter engine the Galra druids had crafted, that black hole could potentially grow large enough to swallow a galaxy. Swallow everyone in it. Twist across time and space, the repercussions too vast to fathom …

 

And Lance, Lance had locked himself and Blue in the colossal Galra complex, he’d hooked them both up to the computer and made it impossible for anyone else to get to him in time.

 

Keith would have done it — he would _stayed,_ but Hunk, Pidge, and Shiro, and their Lions, had all but dragged him and Red — Keith had been fighting and screaming, begging …

 

And now he was here. Safe.

 

When Lance is able to see him, his blue eyes close for a moment, tears slipping past, and he swipes at them quickly with his left hand, ring sparkling in the light. “Talk to me, _mi vida,_ there’s time. Blue and I — we got this down, there’s no way the explosion reaches you, reaches anybody but …”

 

“Talk to me again about the stars.” Keith doesn’t know words anymore. These sounds hardly hold meaning except for the fact that they are the last things Lance will hear.

 

“What about them?” Lance flashes a grin even as something jars him in his seat, Blue barely withstanding a shockwave. “We have had a lot of dumb talks about stars — some of them while drunk, so, uh, don’t expect me to remember those.”

 

Keith can see Lance’s fingers typing ludicrously fast. Pidge had given Lance some of her best coding software to practise with. Hunk had taken the time to boost Lance’s mechanical engineering knowledge so the Blue Paladin could work on his own Lion without help. Keith had constantly taken Lance to task about his sparring abilities, his close-combat techniques. Shiro had bolstered Lance’s failing confidence, told him that he was the much-needed optimistic and relentless drive of their team.

 

And all of that had culminated in Lance being able to do this. Being able to save them all.

 

“Tell me … tell me about how they’re born,” Keith says steadily, his voice strong. “You said some really corny stuff up on that cliff, when we went hiking at dawn on Dellyra, remember?”

 

“Ah, I do … I recall thinking ‘wow, that sunrise is mind-blowing’ and ‘damn, I wish we didn’t have to climb all the way back down’ and ‘holy shit, my boyfriend is the prettiest thing I’ve ever seen.’ ” Lance winks, his smile wavering as another shockwave hits, stronger than the last. “You were into the corniness, don’t lie.”

 

“Yeah, we both know this — it’s why I put a ring on it, idiot.” Keith’s hand, the one with the matching band, clenches into a fist over the console. “And I’m gonna marry your stupid corny face when you get back.”

 

Lance’s smile doesn’t falter now, even as another tear escapes. He doesn’t bother to hide it. “Yeah, you are. It’s going to be gorgeous, man, and we’ll have it right in my yard back home, near the beach, and I hope like hell it rains all over everything.”

 

“ _Lance_.” Keith’s voice finally cracks. “Please, please tell me how the stars are born. Tell me about how … how in the dark …”

 

“Keith, you know how it goes — there’s nothing in the blackness out here, and then there’s these clouds —“ Another blast sends Lance reeling, but he straightens quickly and looks directly into Keith’s eyes. “These wisps of gas and space stuff. They break away, and they shrink and compress and when the explosion happens, there’s this glow, this perfect sphere of light, and it grows and grows, stronger and stronger, blasting away the leftover clouds. And when it’s finally there for everyone to see — Keith, the light, it goes on and on. Long after that star is gone. Forever.”

 

Keith is crying now, and he doesn’t care, he doesn’t care that he’s on his knees, clutching the console to keep himself somewhat upright. He doesn’t care that he’s not alone — that he can hear Hunk sobbing behind him. And elsewhere, nearby, is Allura, crying on the floor, and Shiro is in her arms, wrecked into silence. Pidge is crawling towards Hunk, and Coran stands, unable to move, barely breathing.

 

“Tell me I can — I can get in Red right now,” Keith pleads, every fibre of his being screaming, yearning to _do something_. “I can.”

 

“Yes, you could,” Lance agrees, quiet yet clear. “And you wouldn’t be able to get back before … And why? Why would you do that to me? What’s the point of this if you’re not alive to see tomorrow?”

 

“You’re always asking me to do the heavy lifting.” Keith tries for a laugh and fails miserably. “I have to see tomorrow _without you,_ so what the hell _is the point?_ Lance _,_ god, please tell me I don’t have to do this _. Please_. I can’t, _I’ve lost so many damn things, and I can’t —_ ”

 

“You have to go home for me.” Lance is pressing a hand to the screen, his eyes desperate. “Keith, you have to go to Cuba. Varadero beach, where my mom and dad … you know all my siblings' names, they’ll be … They’ll be so impressed — you give ’em those couple of lines in Spanish, and you’re in, and … Tell them every amazing thing we ever saw, we ever did. Every battle we won, and the ones we lost. Tell them I’m the consort to a rain god on some random world, and about that time we got a Space Cow as our team mascot, and …”

 

This next blast cuts the feed for a split second, long enough for Hunk to cry out, but then Lance is back. Next to Keith, Hunk inhales wetly — he and Lance had talked for a few minutes before Keith had found the strength to reach out … But now Hunk is silent, like everyone else. Pidge is buried in the Yellow Paladin’s side — she’d said maybe two sentences before she’d gone mute.

 

“You tell them that you’re my fiancé and so that makes you family, tell them I said so,” Lance orders him, and there’s a deep, resonate creaking — the last of the Galra complex falling apart. On some other screen they can see Galra ships trying to break free of the gravity well, but it’s too strong. There is no escape.

 

“Your parents will never forgive me for not bringing you home.” Keith can hardly speak through the tears, but he refuses to stop trying. Refuses to look away even as a steadily growing glow builds behind Lance, surrounding him, white and blinding.

 

“They will. They know me, they know what kind of trouble-making kid I am, that I was when …” Lance breaks. He’s crying hard enough to lose his words. His hands are no longer inputting code. There must be nothing left to do. “My _mamá,_ Keith, god, you need to be there. I’m sorry, you’re right, this is the harder part. I’m asking you to do something that I don’t think I could do if …”

 

Keith finds the last of his strength, pushes himself to speak as forcefully as he can because _Lance needs him_. “I’m going to be there, even if they don’t want me — I’ll build my own house, and it’ll be on beach, and every day I’ll go for a swim and …”

 

The light was filling the room, both on the screen and through the Castle windows — they were so far, but right then, Keith was so close … Felt like he could just reach out …

 

“I’ll eat _croquetas_ for lunch,” Keith whispers. “And I’ll go outside every time it rains.”

 

“Keith, I’m … I’m scared, please, don’t stop talking,” Lance begs, and he’s clutching his controls, his bayard in one hand, but Blue must be bolstering their bond, reassuring him, comforting him — he seems to settle, asking Keith in a slightly calmer voice, “Please, _mi vida,_ what else?”

 

“And, and …” Keith chokes on a sob once, yet he forces himself to go on clearly. “I’ll make sure your mom knows every single stupid stunt you ever pulled, and every time you made me so damn proud of you, even if you annoyed the hell out of me by bragging about it for _weeks_ after, _god, I love you_ —”

 

“The most important things, Keith, _Keith,_ ” Lance is yelling to be heard — Keith can hardly make him out, the white hot glow overpowering, and he claws at the console, rising to his feet on shaking limbs, taking his last breaths in a universe that has Lance in it. “You tell them how much I love you. That we found a family out here, that every day I had a _family_ with me. Do you know what the chances are of that happening? Keith, you _tell them that milagros are real, and you were mine. Just remember_ —”

 

White light.

 

Silence.

 

When the piercing glow fades, Keith’s eyes are seeing colours and shapes that break his understanding of the cosmos — but he knows, he _knows,_ that for a few seconds, long enough to be _sure,_ there’s a brilliant, enormous circle, filled with a familiar luminescent blue and shimmering white, and Keith _knows_ — but then it’s gone, and reality snaps back and there’s nothing in the black but distant twinkling lights. There’s no wormhole or black hole. There are no clouds of stardust.

 

They’ve won a war they’ve spent six years fighting.

 

And Keith is hollowed out, emptied of feeling, without purpose.

 

Hands of people he loves reach out, trembling, hesitating — he shatters before they touch him.

 

But the broken fragments of him know that there are promises he has to keep. He can only be in pieces for so long — he has to honour his word to carry the brokenness back to a beach. He has to live with it for as long as his lungs take in air, his heart pounds blood into his veins, and his mind bears the weight of wondrous miracles.

 

******

“Keith, _venga, va a llover.”_

“ _Lo sé_ ,” he replies, sitting on warm sand. “But they said it wouldn’t be for long.”

 

“This is how you got sick two months ago,” she says, taking a seat next to him. Her loose brown hair is played with by the wind, a few streaks of white and grey intermingling beautifully. “You were congested and miserable for a whole week.”

 

“I know,” he says again. “But it was a thunderstorm, and I …”

 

“ _Te entiendo, querido._ ” She falls silent, and they both watch the waves froth towards them, teasing the beach gently before they quietly retreat.

 

“If you’re going to leave, you need to say good-bye.” She smiles when he faces her, his eyes wide. “Please, Keith, I don’t know how you and Lance danced around each other for so long — you cannot lie to save your life.”

 

“I wasn’t _lying,_ I never even said _anything,_ ” he protests, his hands clasped together, resting on his raised knees. One finger presses hard against an ever-present ring. “How could you call it lying if I never said a thing about it?”

 

She gives him an unimpressed look and Keith gives up, laughing a little. One wave crests, and another, and there’s soft wet brushing against his bare toes.

 

It’s beautiful, and the only home Keith would ever want to come back to, but there’s irreparable damage inside of him that won’t let him rest.

 

He can hardly breathe when there’s a rain storm, but he sits outside nevertheless; he'll close his eyes and feel warmth slide along his limbs — he'll hear a boisterous voice chattering in his mind that his ears strain for, that his heart longs for, and when the rain stops, he can hardly bear to open his eyes again and see his arms are empty.

 

“There was a time when Lance and I would stay up late each night there was a full moon,” she says, apropos of nothing, but it’s everything to Keith. He listens with his gaze lingering on the horizon, on the yellow star that he knows less now after years spent apart. “Lance loved to see it rise over the water. When I explained to him how the moon affects the tide, he was excited. And he couldn’t believe that it wasn’t magic, so I bought him books about space. After reading, he came running to me, and he said, ‘ _Mamí, did you know that the moon was the first place we ever visited? There are footsteps, mamí, and they’re still there — can I go see?’_ ”

 

Keith has seen pictures of a small, five year old Lance, teeth missing and freckles prominent on his brown skin — he can imagine it so clearly, that rambling, only in a higher pitch, sweet and innocent but the same excitement.

 

“After he was accepted into the Garrison, he promised me that as soon as he got to the moon, for that practise mission all pilots do, he’d sneak a few pictures for me …” She laughs. “I’m pretty sure that was his first disciplinary action. Those pictures of old footprints for his mother.”

 

And Keith can see that, too. He smiles, and he aches, but that’s always.

 

“Do you know what are the chances of that?” Keith speaks into the fresh spray of the ocean. “Of him growing into … Out of millions of applications, _his_ gets chosen. And out of hundreds of pilots, he was given a practise mission — it wasn’t _all_ pilots, only fifty of us were allowed to do that. And when I got thrown out, Lance was promoted to fighter pilot, and that’s how … he and Hunk and Pidge …”

 

He’s told this story before, many times, yet he falters.

 

“ _M’hijo_ —“

 

“No, I can’t,” he rasps out. “Just today, I can’t talk about him —“

 

“No, Keith, _you, mi hijo,_ ” she says firmly, and Keith meets her loving gaze, a crack in him mending, one of a million, but at least one less small pain. “I am going to ask that you come back, when you can. For however long you will be out there, you make plans for trips _home._ ”

 

He nods before he can think, and then he’s allowing her to reach for him. He falls into her arms as easily as the tide rolls in. He inhales the salty ocean breeze, and he feels the first raindrops splashing against his skin.

 

She doesn’t let go, and neither does he.

 

Once the rain settles over them in a light patter, Keith stands up, extending a hand down to her. “If you know, then I guess … I should start heading out. I’ll tell everyone tonight, and leave in a couple of days.”

 

“You’ll need to explain it to the little ones honestly,” she cautions as she rises to her feet. “And keep in mind that Cris and Fara are not going to let you go easily — they love you, but they also need you as a reminder of their little brother, you see.” What she wasn’t saying was that the entire family had wrapped Keith up in all the love they couldn’t give to Lance anymore, and he knew that it would hurt to leave, but he couldn’t stay still any longer.

 

“ _Lo siento,”_ he apologizes, but she waves off his words.

 

“No, what you’ve done is made this … easier, on all of us. And now you need to take care of yourself.”

 

They’ve been walking slowly back to the house, and as they approach, a door flings open, two small bodies rushing out to greet them.

 

“Keith, I finished the puzzle, and you said we could start the four hundred piece one if I —” Carmela leaps up, knowing that Keith will catch her.

 

(Lance’s older sister, Lucia, had been pregnant when Lance had disappeared to join Voltron. Lance had bragged about a niece he’d never met since, apparently, he _just knew_ she would take after him — and he was right because Carmela laughs loudly and loves horrible jokes. She has blue eyes that Keith could hardly stand to look at when he first arrived a year ago.)

 

“Lela, we have to eat dinner first!” Jaime jumps in, crossing his arms, but he’s smiling up at them, his serious countenance breaking due to eagerness. “I made _empanadas_ with _carne,_ and guess what? Guess what, Keith?” The ten year old is bouncing as they reach the house. “Me and _papá_ learned how to make some pork bulgogi for you! Because you said it’s the one Korean food you —”

 

“Jaime, breathe,” Keith says, his hand tangling in dark brown hair. “And thank you, that sounds incredible.” Jaime is a little protégé to Lance’s father, whose culinary talents are everything Lance promised they would be.

 

Carmela demands to be put down so she can set the table, and Jaime rushes after her to make sure nothing gets broken. Keith lingers on the threshold, watching the storm of activity inside with trepidation, soothing rain at his back.

 

And Lance’s mother, Estella, turns to Keith, smiling brightly, every inch of that grin passed on to all of her children. “ _Dale, m’hijo,_ before there’s nothing left to eat.”

 

The warmth of that family dinner carries over into tearful good-byes and many promises made to return as soon as possible, but he’s standing in front of his Lion regardless of pleas to stay. He knows that Estella has a small hope, no more than a few dim embers, and that’s why she didn’t ask him to remain …

 

Because she remembers what Keith had described of the day the universe came apart at the seams, and Keith is going to find that tear, circular, blue, shaped like a wormhole, and go diving headfirst into it.

 

“And if we don’t find anything?” Pidge asks worriedly, carefully. “Keith, are you ready for that?”

 

Keith isn’t surprised by her. His Red Lion stands surrounded by three others. And there’s a floating Castle somewhere beyond the twilight sky — he knows that without having to see.

 

“Man, I think you’ve put on some serious weight,” Hunk says cheerfully, his own muscular arms huge as they wrap around Keith, lifting him up for a bit. “And yes, what Pidge said. Because we’re coming with you, and we don’t care for how long — but you do know that … Chances are …”

 

“The odds are rarely in our favour,” Shiro says, and he’s next to embrace Keith. His flesh and blood arm wraps around Keith’s shoulders, pulls him in close and doesn’t let go. “We’ve done things that had a far smaller chance of succeeding, I think.”

 

“It’s an endless series of completely astronomically improbable things that keep happening around us,” Keith recites with a smile that’s aimed at his family, his first real family, and filled with the love he’s learned from his second. “And even if nothing comes of this, I want to see what other ridiculously out-of-this-world impossible things exist. Every day, something fresh, something strange and inconceivable.”

 

“Well, we’ll have plenty of new stories to tell him then.” Hunk speaks with certainty, with only the slightest hint of pain, and he flashes everyone a broad, sincere smile.

 

“Right,” Pidge agrees, pulling her much longer hair back into a ponytail, shoving her glasses up her nose while she grins at Keith. “And if we can get you a couple of gods to be consort to, he’ll be so mad that you one-upped him.”

 

“To one-up Lance, Keith would have to be consort to a few gods, and negotiate the end to a decades’ long civil war using the lyrics to _Baby’s Got Back,_ ” Shiro says wryly.

 

“Yeah. I have never told that story to anybody because _no one_ would believe it,” Hunk bemoans.

 

“Estella did.” And now Keith is grinning. “She told me that she was only surprised Lance didn’t lead with _Get Low._ ”

 

“I need him to explain to me _again_ why that was his go-to panic song.” Hunk sighs in fond reminiscence. “Like, dude, he would write the lyrics to that in his papers when he was stressed enough. I know, I used to proofread his work.”

 

Keith is at Red’s feet, and she’s purring in his mind already, welcoming him and trying to sooth his pain, but he’s a mess of scars and fresh wounds. Keith thanks her silently and turns to face the others.

 

“I’ll only say it once … You don’t have to —”

 

He’s met with hisses and boos, and Shiro is laughing at him, and it takes no time at all to get reacquainted with controls that feel like they’re still a part of them, and flying to the Castle is almost entirely instinct.

 

It rips at the scars, Keith letting himself feel the full measure of that hurt, but he’s fine, he’s been surviving, and when he sees Allura and Coran, ready with massive galaxy maps opened, colour coded by highest priority, the greatest likelihood of finding something …

 

Keith knows the chances are infinitesimal, but all that does is make him smile. Nothing in his life has ever been anything less than the most exceptional of marvels, the kind that the universe creates time and time again … So what’s one more?

 

****** 

You taught me the courage of stars before you left.  
How light carries on endlessly, even after death.  
With shortness of breath, you explained the infinite.  
How rare and beautiful it is to even exist.  
  
I couldn’t help but ask  
For you to say it all again.  
I tried to write it down  
But I could never find a pen.

I’d give anything to hear  
You say it one more time,  
That the universe was made  
Just to be seen by my eyes.  
  
With shortness of breath, I’ll explain the infinite  
How rare and beautiful it truly is that we exist.

 —  _[Saturn,](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dzNvk80XY9s) _ Sleeping at Last 

******

**Author's Note:**

> It seems as though Lance dies … But I couldn’t bear to leave Keith completely without hope, hence the implication that just maybe, while extremely unlikely, Lance is out there somewhere. I think it makes more sense for Lance to have died saving them all, but there’s a part of me that imagines that, somehow, after a wickedly long time spent searching every dark corner of the universe …
> 
> If you haven’t already listened/watched the video for [_Saturn_](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dzNvk80XY9s), please, do so. It’s stunning and beautiful and it made me cry happy tears.
> 
> If you’ve read this story, I thank you — I’m occasionally around on [Tumblr,](http://thisgirlhastales.tumblr.com/) if you wanna find me there. 
> 
> Comments are wonderful things, especially in this case — it took a lot out of me to write this and it will likely be a long, long time before I write anything like this again. Once more, many thanks to anyone that makes it to the end of this story and these notes :)


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